“Let’s hope we can negotiate something,” McCaskill said. “I think if I were going to critique Harry Reid this morning, I really wish we would stop with this ‘dead-on-arrival — not going to go there,’ and begin to have language like, ‘We’re going to take a look at it and see if there’s anything that we can agree on here,’ and over the next couple of days try to come to an agreement.”

WATCH:

“That’s what’s really going to happen,” she concluded. “And I don’t know why this place is so set on looking like were combative all the time.”

The debate over extending a year-long U.S. payroll tax holiday continues as both parties work to tie additional legislation to its passage. Most recently, Republicans have attached language to approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would bring crude oil from Canada to the United States.